From the perspective of Gut Aiderbichl
02.02.2021: On the Day of the Hedgehog
The little prickly friends with the black beady eyes are still in hibernation. This is a good opportunity to share some important observations on Hedgehog Day.
In autumn, when the leaves on the trees change colour, the hedgehog is exceptionally active during the day. He sniffs with his little nose and looks for food to build up a winter fat. During hibernation, the hedgehog loses up to 50% of its normal body weight, which is up to 800 grams for an adult hedgehog.
When November rolls around, the hedgehog is fat and tired and looks for suitable winter quarters. With around 1.5 kg of winter fat, he makes himself comfortable in his quarters.
"Mr. Hedgehog" and the search for winter quarters
Hedgehogs feel most at home in the hedges of natural gardens. This is where the hedgehog builds her nest and then gives birth to her young after a five-week gestation period between June and August. When the temperatures get cooler, hedgehogs increasingly look for a place to live for the winter. The shelter must not be too damp or too warm. If the shelter were too warm, they would only be able to hibernate half asleep. The body temperature is reduced to 5 degrees.
The threat posed by the disappearance of natural gardens
Consideration and respect for nature are closely linked to the Aiderbichler philosophy.
The garden offers the hedgehog everything it needs: shrubs, hedges, piles of leaves in autumn. Unfortunately, many natural habitats of the animals are being destroyed. Again and again, old houses with a large garden are demolished. This is tabula rasa behaviour: everything old must go, the modern must come. Who thinks of Mecki the hedgehog when old walls are demolished or old, densely grown hedges are dug up? New block-like houses are being built and narrow golf lawn-like paths line the modern apartment blocks. There is no more room for a natural hedgehog population here....
"I am an Aiderbichler. I also brake for animals".
Do you know Michael Aufhauser's story about the Ferrari hedgehog?
Many years ago, he was driving on a country road in the evening and just managed to avoid a hedgehog. In the rear-view mirror he saw the approaching catastrophe: a Ferrari, travelling much too fast, caught the hedgehog and hurled it to the side of the road. Michael Aufhauser drove back and wanted to look for the hedgehog in the grass. He could not believe his ears when he heard the Ferrari coming. The man got out and was shocked to see that the hedgehog was alive, but injured and bleeding.
Michael Aufhauser held the hedgehog in a cloth and reassured the Ferrari driver: "I'll take him to the animal hospital, maybe little Mecki will make it here!". The Ferrari driver was concerned that he had been going too fast and so had seen the hedgehog too late. A hedgehog has shorter legs at the front than at the back. If it is crossing the road and a fast car comes along, it has little or no chance of survival.
The Ferrari hedgehog was lucky
The hedgehog soon got better and Michael Aufhauser released him at the estate in Henndorf.
The Ferrari driver enquired about the hedgehog by phone and was happy and satisfied when he heard that he had survived the accident well and had been released into the wild. He named the little hedgehog Arian.
There are also people who pick up an earthworm from the path and put it in the grass, or those who do not deliberately step on a beetle. I wish that all the modern residential buildings had larger meadows where deciduous trees grow, that the leaves are not blown away in autumn, but that they are piled up around the tree, and then the hedgehog can hibernate there. I wish for many Ferrari hedgehogs in this world.
Sincerely, Gisela
